The History Book Club discussion

Have just finished 'Journal de Gouverneur Morris, ministre plenipotentiare des Etats-Unis en France de 1792 a 1794, pendant les annees 1789,1790, 1791 et 1792.'
Morris was American and was in France representing American interests during these years, which were particularly important in French history. He had a wooden leg from an accident in 1780, but this does not seem to have stopped him from crossing an ocean and leading a very busy life visiting a lot of 'posh' French ladies.
He writes in a calm, somewhat cold manner, given what was happening. The very last letter in the book is to Jefferson and describes a week of incessant massacres. It started by 2 or 3 hundred ecclesiasticals being killed and then the Princesse de Lamballe is decapitated and her intestines torn out, which were then promenaded around the streets and outside the window of the Queen. Then the prisoners from Orleans were massacred, followed by the Duc de La Rochefoucauld and his wife.
This book is a French translation of the original and was published in 1901 and has been republished using digital printing.
Again, I cannot manage to post the cover etc. All that comes up is my attempt to put the previous book on here! Sorry, Bentley again.

Hello Carol - our rules are for proper citations so that the goodreads software can populate our site correctly making it better - we will help you but you cannot give up because then that means we have to do it and we are all volunteers and it is too time consuming - so we need for you to try and we will help you - it is not difficult.

If you need more assistance then go to the Mechanics of the Board thread and that will help you get started. It is in the Help Desk folder.

Here is the link:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Here are some citations how dos which we did for a book discussion:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

I have done both for you again but you need to try and research the names of your books which do the member no good if they cannot link to them. Also then the goodreads software does not add the books at all and there is no way for our members to link to them or the authors or know which books you are even talking about.

by Gouverneur Morris (no photo)

by Abigail Adams

We are here to help you but you cannot give up so easily. The books do come up with if you search for the correct information. It only looks for what you type in.

Remember book cover (if available - usually is), then the word by which you type in - then the author's photo if available, then always the author's link. When the author's photo is not available - then in parentheses at the end of the citation - just add (no photo). If the book cover is not available and usually it is - but if it isn't - you would add (no image) at the front.

This is so easy that soon you will wonder why you thought it was so hard (smile)

Thanks Bentley. Will read the link. The problem was that I found the two books you have found but they are not the same as the two I have/am reading and it did not seem quite right to feature the wrong book, although it would have obviously been easy for me to have done so.
The Scholar Select book you have found for Mrs Adams is the series I have for Gouverneur Morris, and the Adams book is in the Hard Press Classics Series. It seems wrong on behalf of the publisher to list the wrong book, and show the wrong cover, which is one of the reasons I didn't.

Carol that does happen but let us know and one of the librarians will try to fix it I am sure but most books are there and can be found - we just need the correct name and the correct author.

I am not so sure it was a publisher problem but a problem that one of the global librarians made.

Carol please try and edit 2583 - you must add the author's photo and author's link. Go back and click on the author buttons and add the author's photo and author's link.

by Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert Du Motier

Carol I have no idea what you are discussing. Please go to the Mechanics of the Board thread and I can help you there.

I recently finished by[no photo]Paul Moses.

The book explores the relationship between Irish and Italians (and descendants) in New York City, beginning in the late 1800's, with the beginning of increased immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe. From rocky beginnings, to say the least, the two ethnic groups became allies. Moses interweaves profiles of better-known individuals from each group, prominent in various areas: Catholic church, politics, crime, entertainment, with stories of his and his wife's ancestors.
The writing is sometimes repetitious but it is a quick, easy read. I found the subject quite interesting - especially because my first cousins are products of such an "Unlikely Union" of 1st-generation Italian-American and 3rd generation Irish-American!

@Carol - the book had not been edited yet and the citation corrected.

@MaryEllen - hi - there is a problem with your citation.

Let me show you how to correct it. Always best to type normally within the comment box and add the citation at the bottom.

by Paul Moses (no photo)

Judging by the first 25 pages it's pretty clear what happens in the end (face it, there are no surprise endings in a history book), but am immediately drawn into this story.
by Kate Moore

I am enjoying three books at this time and I note that they all coincidentally have to do with stories of human limits and water. All three are uniformly excellent and engaging.

Ian W. Toll

Nathaniel Philbrick

Candice Millard

Listening to...

by Rick Atkinson

e-reading...

by Gene Callahan (no photo)

Paperback reading...

by Andrea Wulf

Audible - Crime of Privilege
Book- Ernest Hemingway

Must be a lot of WWII buffs out there, just about to jump into this as my next read. It has high marks, looking forward to it. Maybe a coincidence, but the best books I have read this year have all been written by women.

by Lynne Olson

WWII historical Fiction
This is my umpteenth time reading it. i have first and second editions on my shelf. Have the third edition now, just released end of July. I find the 3rd a better read. Nice to finally have author's preferred text. 2nd edition was crippled by publisher choice.
Loving it.
Because I know I will enjoy it:
Souvenirs by Keith C. Chase

For tension relief I will switch to the next fluff item on my stack:
Rocket Jockey by Lester Del Rey

Just finished "Capote: A Biography.

I finished the Russian philosophical classic, The Brothers Karamazov.

I also read the excellent historical fiction book, Year of Wonders, about the plague in a Derbyshire village in 1666. Geraldine Brooks is one of my favorite authors.

by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

by Geraldine Brooks

Reading a twin of books about the 1916 Battle of the Somme at a glacial pace:
byWilliam Philpott(no photo)
by Robert Kershaw

reading by Adrienne Mayor

currently reading Speak Easy

Hi, all. I'm currently reading 3 or 4 books.

Madame Bovary, a fiction---a literature. Not knowing French, I've a translation. Flaubert, the author, wrote "realism," and oh my...some of the sentences are astoundingly beautiful and so full of details you almost feel yourself there.

The first half of the book I gave Emma---who on her marriage became Madame Bovary--- a fair degree of ... understanding... on her actions due to her upbringing, her older brother having died before she was born, her being then an only child...so beautiful...rather spoiled, etc. The old nature-nuture debate.

However, as the story continued, sigh, she was SO self-centered and her actions! contributed mightily to the ruin and death of her husband (whose French heart probably said of her every single day, 'Je Adore') and the Dickensonian ruin her young daughter (to the factory!) that I felt it increasingly challenging to "feel" the book from her perspective. I kept thinking that as life went on she would---could---certainly should--learn from her mistakes. She didn't.

I read that Flaubert was dyslexic, wrote extremely slowly, and was wont to read his work aloud in his garden so he could hear the rhythm of the words.

by Gustave Flaubert

Heavy reading:
by Francis Pike(no photo)

I usually have four to six books on the go and try to keep them different in nature - though not always....

by
which I'm reading with my homeschooled senior. Surprisingly, she's not a fan.

Most likely because Elliot comes up with some great imagery, like today's gem, "The long pipes gave a simultaneous movement, like the antennae of startled insects [...]" but then writes about the death of Wildfire (the horse) in a partial sentence, "...and got his horse pierced with a hedge stake." Followed, by a convoluted sentence that ends with, "but poor Wildfire, unconscious of his price, turned on his flank and painfully panted his last." After which the narrator goes on to describe the rider in some detail. When we discussed this chapter, DD had totally missed that the horse died and was at a loss as to how.

That said, good conversations about the individual, society, and property have taken place, and we still haven't gotten to the orphan. But, an Elliot fan she is not. I, on the other hand, got lost (in a good way) in Middlemarch and intend to read it again some day.

But, the next book on my list

by Arthur Herman (no photo)

has been feeding my reading of book #1. I'm listening to this in audiobook format and, while it's not light, it's mostly followable - with the occasional track back to pick up a name or an idea missed. Ironically, DD has been reading about Adam Smith in her Economics study, and I'm getting bits of him through this book, so conversations have been better informed than otherwise.

I get annoyed with books that hype their title as this one does. But, that said, the contributions of the Scots to the concept of modernity is oft overlooked. I'm up to chapter five, which discusses the clans of the Highlands and the structure therein, which is totally different from what any hawker at a Scottish festival will foist on you. Looking forward to listening to the rest - especially as Overdrive updated their app and it works far better (for me) than previous versions.

by
Is a sequel - I'm doing this via Audible. This is a weighty tale and actually takes a bit of focus to keep all of the story lines and characters together, but it so worth it. I have to wait to listen until I can give it a good couple of hours, or I feel cheated. If you like J R R Tolkien (no photo), you'll probably like Sanderson.

And for bedtime listening, I usually have a Harry Potter book on the go, or Tolkien, or C S Lewis (no photo). Currently, it's

by . I won't list this whenever I update here, but it's always current on my homepage.

Mods, it's my first "non-reply" sort of post. I think I linked things properly, but the preview isn't showing book covers... ETA: fixed that - these were long entries and I missed that there was a radio button to click (or that I could just edit the links manually).

Anne Boleyn The Kings Obsession by Alison Weir

Dimitri please fix your spacing - look at Sandy's or Adelle's - they have it correct. Your citations have some issues - small but still they need to be corrected.

Let me show you and then I would like you to try and edit 2600 - it will help you learn what we are talking about.

by Francis Pike (no photo)

Adelle I am delighted to have you back. Thank you Sandy for your add.

Pupukat - we have a citation standard when posting about books - we add the book cover, the word by, a space before and after the word by - then the author's photo and finally the authors link. If the author's photo is not available we add (no photo) at the end after the author's link.

Here is an example of the citation for the book you mentioned.

by Marius B. Jansen (no photo)

Currently reading by .- so far, so extraordinary. So much learning already!

Hello Hector - one of our guidelines is the citing of books and authors using our standard which is easy to master. We like to take advantage of the powerful goodreads software.

You have gotten the book cover right, the word by and the spacing and the author's photo - what you are missing is the last part - the author's link - if you go into the add book/author link again - add the link of the author's name after the photo. It should look like this. You did an admirable job for starters:

by William Rosen

Onto a little HF for a change of pace. Somehow feel like I am late to the party on this one, which can happen when you have an overly ambitious to-read list. Just cracked into it, suspect there will be a few tear-worthy moments. Anyone else read this?
by Sue Monk Kidd

No - let us know how you like it

by Annie Jacobsen

It's really good so far. Learning a lot.

That is great

Reading this one

by Kate Moore

The pain and deaths of the women make me want to cry.

Michele you will be sobbing by the time you finish it. Great book very compelling story. Unreal what they endured.

by Umberto Eco

Just started this ~
by David Grann

Currently reading this: by Jonathan Taplin

by Roger Chickering(no photo)

I am currently reading by David Mitchell

Heard the author speak shortly after this book was released. He is a compelling speaker, actually better in person than his tv news show. Just started this today - by Chris Hayes (no photo)

Onto this book which has been sitting on my shelf for awhile. Even from the first few pages I can tell this is going to be good. It's always a pleasure to crack a book and be immediately drawn in - the hallmark of what usually ends with a satisfying and enjoyable reading experience.
by Isabel Wilkerson

Alisa, lovely as this too has been on my bookshelf for awhile. Hopefully I will get to it soon. Thank you.

Alisa, this one is on my TBR list. I hope to get to it soon.

Love it so far but only a few pages in. Looking forward to really settling in with this one.

by Heinrich Gerlach (no photo) (1908-1991)
The man earlier wrote a bestseller (with the aid of hypnosis?) based on his war experiences after his release from a Soviet POW camp in the '50's, but this original manuscript was unearthed in 2012 in a Moscow archive.

I'm currently reading Cowgirls Women of the American West by Teresa Jordan, when I'm not reading children's books to my younger children.

Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America

Just started to read Ron Chernow's book on Grant this .morning.

Talea wrote: "I'm currently reading Cowgirls Women of the American West by Teresa Jordan, when I'm not reading children's books to my younger children."

Talea, this book looks very interesting. This is how the book you mentioned should look:
by Teresa Jordan (no photo)